Behind the front page: History, happiness and kindness at the county fair

The Davis Clipper

Aug 28, 2013 | 2293 views | 0 | 33 | |

Rebecca Palmer

Clipper Editor

The Clipper and Utah Islander staff spent much of last week staffing the information booth at the Davis County Fair, and we probably sent thousands of families and children back to see the elephants brought in for the occasion.

In between that, pointing out bathrooms and offering up newspaper subscriptions, we got the chance to see just what Davis County is like when we all gather together.

Our Sales Manager Reed Stahle, for example, was impressed at how people of all stripes made homage to our rural heritage. There are relatively few farmers in the county these days, but hundreds of people came to see the pigs, horses, cows and steers we do have. Others came to see the arts and crafts techniques of our senior citizens and youth, and others simply wanted the deep-fried foods and frozen drinks.

Founding father Thomas Jefferson thought all Americans would be agrarian people, Stahle told me, and though many of us have moved to cities, there is no doubt that farming is our bedrock.

During my shifts, I was impressed by the thoughtfulness fairgoers had for one another. One woman, for example, brought me a smartphone she had found in the restrooms. The woman had wandered looking for a lost and found, but came to our booth when she was unsuccessful. The phone would have been easy to steal but instead, this woman spent several minutes walking in the sweltering heat to get it back to its owner. The teen who lost it did get it back, by the way.

Something similar happened with a pair of eyeglasses. Also unable to find a lost and found dropoff, the woman who found them brought them to me with great concern in her eyes. The woman who lost them had left the fair, but when she returned and found them at our booth, she shouted out in joy.

Davis County is full of people like these women, and it’s a better place to live, work and play because of it. The community ethic of kindness has not gone unnoticed.

We would also be remiss not to mention the many local businesses and artists who participated in the fair, showing their commitment to the people of Davis. The fair has been growing and growing, and its proof that Davis is much more than a bedroom community between Ogden and Salt Lake City.

Instead, we are a thriving economic force full of talent, kindness and a profound respect for our history. We are Davis — proud, happy and bursting with vivacity.